Raining Love for Her by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (digital e reader .TXT) 📕

look so sexy to entice him?” A broad smile adorned her beautiful face. Reema was always proud about her small pouting lips. Some of her friends used to tell her that she had sexy lips that looked inviting and could hold a man’s heart at once. But as she failed to notice any sign of admiration from Vel, she was a little bit angry toward him.

“I know he has a soft corner for me. Yet, why does he hesitate to tell me.” Reema went on thinking wild for a while.

“Let him come and tell me first. I will not get emotionally attached to him so soon. Let me wait.” Reema decided to wait for him and tell his love. It will be really good to watch him and consider him to be my secret admirer. That thought can help to lift the confidence and can make her feel great. If he is going to reveal his love just like that in a moment, it will be not be a true love, and there will be no thrill in knowing about that also.

Love is something like an adventurous trip. It must have its own challenges, then, only it will be interesting to go ahead. Reema always believed that things won after facing challenges will last longer and it can help to make the life meaningful and the love life more blissful.

But at that time she did not realise how her life will take a slippery u turn and give her the maximum friction to let her stand firmly on the ground.

“Reema, come and have your food. What are you doing there? Wipe your hair dry, otherwise you may fall ill.” Her mother scolded her from the kitchen.

“Yes, ma, I am drying my hair.” With the towel on her hand, Reema went into the kitchen to get her plate of food.

“What a pleasant ride!” Vel could not believe in himself. He never expected to ride with Reema on his pillion. So many times, Vel wanted to drop Reema at her place. But he always hesitated to ask her for she will be always there with some of her friends. He also knew it will not be a good idea to ask only her to come along with him when she was with her group of friends. This adventurous ride in the lashing rain made his heart palpitate faster. Once in a while he looked at the shivering Reema in the rear view mirror. To maintain his decency, he did not look again and again. If Reema caught him looking at her in the rearview mirror, she might think worse about him. To avoid such embarrassing situations, he concentrated on the road to avoid any pit fall.

“Why don’t you come home early?” Vel’s mother opened the door with the usual complaint.

“Started early only ma, but caught in the rain.” Without giving time for her to begin with the next complaint, Vel came back quicker after changing his dress that was drenched in rain. He did not want to listen to another long lecture from his mother who yet treated him like a 10 year old boy.

After dinner, he switched on the computer as usual to check his personal mails.

“Don’t sit too long glaring at the system. Go to sleep early.”

“Yes, ma, you go and take rest. I know how to take care of myself. I am not a little boy.”

“Drink at least this milk.” His mother left the tumbler of milk and went to sleep.

When Vel took a sip of the milk, the warm milk caressed his throat and made him feel better. He always wondered how his mother knows what he needs even without asking him. Probably, that is motherhood. With a smile he drank the milk in one gulp.

As usual, Vel was caught by the flavor of the milk. He remembered how his mother would force him to drink a cup of hot milk with a pinch of turmeric powder, jalapeno pepper (val milagu in Tamil) and palm jaggery. This mixture always protected him from getting cold and also prevented the throat pain. After drinking the milk, Vel went to sleep immediately even without switching off the computer. In minutes, he was fast asleep and so even the numerous messages that Reema sent to him did not wake him up from his deep sleep.

After sending a thank you message, Reema eagerly expected Vel to reply her back. But he did not reply to her message. Reema could not avoid feeling a bit disappointed as she expected an acknowledgement from him.

She did not want to call him and disturb in the middle of night. At the same time, she missed the patience to wait and talk to him in the office the next day. Reema rolled and rolled on her bed and went to sleep around 3 am in the morning. She felt awkward and did not know what she was thinking about Vel would be true.

Reema knew cycling and she loved to ride bicycle on the busy roads. Cycling made her feel energetic and she liked to pedal so fast and feel the evening breeze on her face. Sometimes, cycling in the rain was so irritating and she had to keep on wiping away the rain water that dripped from her forehead and dampened her hair. If it rained, the entire crowd went mad and no one bothered to follow the traffic rules. Only one thing ruled over their mind. They wanted to reach their destination as soon as possible.

After traveling in the bike along with Vel, she wanted to enjoy bike rides. Even though she can ride a two wheeler, to be a pillion rider is also something thrilling and exciting.

Reema always listened with wonder to her male colleagues while they discussed going long bike rides. Young college boys or men in their early twenties always wanted to go for adventurous trips during their weekends. In Chennai, they always selected ECR road for their long bike rides.

A ride on the ECR is breathtaking and picturesque. ECR is a biker’s paradise. Most of the road is unusually straight and flat and they are also well laid out. Vehicles rode you past at a speed of over 100 km per hour, though the legal speed limit is 80 km per hour.

After crossing the ECR Toll Plaza, the riders can get a natural view of the sea. The East Coast Road is only one lane per direction with no dividers. So overtaking becomes hair-raising and high-speed head-on collisions are quite common. The road runs parallel to the coast of Bay of Bengal. The bike ride through the ECR to Pondicherry is about 130 kilometres.

Sometimes, Reema had seen couples riding on the East Coast Road. It was quite romantic to watch those riders who rode unmindful of the people around them. Those youngsters were least bothered about the onlookers and rode their bikes in tune with their high spirits. Nothing prevented them from enjoying that free ride that made them feel so excited and happy. They were never afraid to show their tricks and zip past the traffic without giving any one a chance to overtake them.

The next morning Vel got up late. His mother had to keep on calling and reminding him that it was getting late for the office. He was pleasantly surprised to see too many messages from Reema. He was also surprised to see many missed calls from her. With a smile, he went to brush his teeth.

Morning showers always took a long time for Vel. He loved to stand for hours under the shower and enjoyed the tingling touch of the sprinkled water. On that day, the shower reminded him of the yesterday’s rain showers on the way home. Usually Vel avoided travelling in the rain in the bike. It was quite tedious and he always felt a bit risky to drive the slippery roads especially at night. He preferred to wait and ride the bike after the rain stopped. But on that day, because of Reema he had to ride the bike in the slashing rain. He took the utmost care to ride on that day.

Except his mother, Vel had not taken anyone on the pillion of his bike, and it was the first time he took Reema on his bike. Even after he dropped Reema at her home, he could feel the sweet fragrance of her around him. Even after a quick wash in the rain, the fragrance lingered on the pillion and he lovingly touched the seat with much love from his heart.

In the India, especially in South India, right from the childhood, boys and girls are taught to maintain distance. As it starts from home, they never deviated from it even while they travel in the bus, train or in any public places. This can be seen everywhere in South India. It is embedded in the culture of the society and no one took the liberty to break it. Yet, things are different now.

In a city like Chennai, people grow learning to get adjusted to certain things by coming out of the rigid circle of cultural restrictions. During peak hours, people never mind to travel in share autos and crowded buses. Even though buses have separate seats for girls and ladies in the bus, both the gender has learned to accept certain things during peak hours or office hours. They have started to understand each other’s responsibility and the difficulty every one faces in the daily life.

Usually morning hours are hectic and it nearly took one’s patience to get through traffic snarls and reach the office on time. The roads looked pathetic with pot holes and it tested the nerves of the riders. Vel reached office on time after managing all the routine hardships and got engrossed in the usual office work. Vel totally forgot about Reema’s messages. His did not check any message that he received on his mobile. While going down to the canteen to have food, he scrolled through the messages and was pleasantly shocked to see so many messages and calls from her. He decided to reply her messages after having his lunch.

In the meanwhile, Reema continued to watch Vel throughout the day. Her eyes followed him wherever he went and she could not avoid watching him again and again. During the afternoon break also Reema searched for Vel in the canteen. He was busy talking and eating with his friends, and Reema could not stop feeling hurt. A sense of possessiveness gripped her and she wanted Vel only for her. Though she knew she sounded childish, she could not get away from those thoughts.

Again and again she thought about her short ride on the bike with him. Thinking about Vel again and again made her feel love sick. How it would be in a tight embrace of Vel? How it would be to be near him always? It will be an enchanting moment to feel his masculine flavor and get locked inside his strong hands. How it will be to feel him on my lips? Will it be heaven or it will show another world to live through? She kept on day dreaming and at one point of time she got lost in her thoughts.

Caroline looked at Reema with a smile. What happened to her today? She called Reema for more than once, but she did not respond to her immediately.

“Hello, what is happening? You look as if you are in trance.” Caroline called Reema